ARTIST'S STATEMENT

Between the sewing machine and the loom, my journey in the fiber arts has taken over 40 years. From an alterations business at 15, to production hand-woven clothing, to custom art to wear, my work has covered, adorned, and embellished the female body for as long as I can remember. The skills I have developed sewing unusual fabrics, such as handwovens, and the years of experience fitting the female body have made for an interesting combination of material to offer in workshops, seminars, and lectures.

Traditionally I have used the garment as a canvas, the garment is a covering for the body which is a covering for the soul. My new body of artwork takes me off the clothing grid. The simplicity of the format, images from personal losses and celebrations, cut apart, and rewoven back together to look almost whole again, gives me an ability to embrace the difficulties and joys in my life without the garment canvas, these images don’t need to cover my soul, they are indelibly etched into it. The loss of my best friend, my Mother-in-Law, Margaret Lancaster, and the 13th anniversary of my breast cancer diagnosis, have given me material to explore areas of my soul that are grieving yet celebrating.